Time to re-focus…

Posted by jimako on February 28th, 2006 filed in Self Improvement

Sometimes, the pressures at work distract us from the other parts of our lives that are important but, well, never seem to be urgent. It struck me over the weekend that I had spent an incredible amount of time either at work, or thinking about work, over the past few months. It’s one of those traps that are always there, ready to spring, and I seem to get lured into it time and time again.

This time, the realisation came to me during a meeting that we were holding at our home. It was a meeting of the Social Committee of the Lodge that I am a member of, and we had twenty or so people attend, comprised of members of the lodge and some of their partners. The Social Committee is an opportunity for our women folk, who are not able to participate in the ritual of the Craft, to take an active part in the charitable and social work that we do, and to meet the other members of the Lodge and their families.

After the business part of the meeting was over, and everyone had partaken of the food and drink, a core group of people stayed on for a few hours to catch up and socialise in an informal setting. Maria (my decidedly better half) and a number of the ladies had a great time. Much sparkling wine was consumed by the ladies, a few snifters of various flavours of spirits by the guys, and all of us had a chance to catch up and spin a few stories. It was a really nice time, and we got to talk about a wide variety of things.

As it inevitably does in these circumstances, the conversation turned to why it is that men today are not drawn to Freemasonry. Now, the membership numbers are not in the absolute free fall that they were a decade or so ago, and indeed the latest word is that the membership numbers are pretty much stable. The reality, however, is that there are far fewer members of the Craft today than there were in past generations. The same is true of service organisations like Rotary and Lions. It wasn’t all that long ago that a young man with ambition would have thought it absolutely part of his future to join a local Lodge, but today many (probably most) of them don’t consider the option at all. We all had our theories as to why this was the case, but most of us agreed that one of the reasons is that they are all too busy!

Today, the 40 hour week is a distant memory for most working people. Sure, you may only be in the office for 37.5 hours, but when you add in the ever-increasing commute and the inevitable “just one small thing” that you take home with you, or the research or background reading that you do at home, I think that fifty hours is closer to the average work week. Then there are all the structured activities that we do for the kids — every night, someone has to drive one child or another to a music or dance or drama lesson, a sport event, a school function or some other event that, somehow, has become a totally necessary part of life today (even though we all grew up without any of them).

So in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we lack that moment of stillness that is necessary to realise that something might be missing.

For anyone reading this that is not a Freemason, let me give you a little bit of information. In the three levels, or degrees, of the Craft, a lesson is taught using a combination of role-playing and oral recitation. The lessons are on many levels, and the whole point of the lessons is to have each individual interpret them in a way that will benefit himself, will help him to become a better person in all aspects of his life. There is no masonic dogma — none at all. The whole point is for you to use your own mind and intellect to better yourself, not to adopt the ideas of someone else.

All of which is necessary to understand that when I talk about “the lessons” of each degree, I am talking about ONE way that they can be interpreted, and by definition anything that I say is going to be coloured by my own personality and perception. Neither am I divulging any secrets here — there are surprisingly few secrets in Freemasonry. So, with that out of the way, here’s what the three degrees teach. Or perhaps I should say here’s what I learnt.

In the first degree, you are taught that you are here for a reason, and that you, yourself, are going to discern that reason. You are taught that you are inextricably connected to the rest of humanity, and that as a member of the family of man you would do well to assist others to the best of your ability, while always being mindful that your charitable activities must not be allowed to impact negatively on the welfare of your family and other responsibilites. Your are taught that you need to be ever industrious, that you are expected to take care of your own needs and the needs of those who depend on you, and not to rely on the charity of others except when there are no alternatives open to you.

The second degree teaches that you also need to work on yourself. You need to balance your time between working at your profession, craft or employment, and working on improving your mind, your body and your spirit. Without doing this, your ability to contribute to the world is going to be limited, both to the world at large and to those nearest and dearest to you.

Finally, the third degree brings you face to face with the fact of your own mortality, emphasising that you don’t have eternity to do what you want to do — you may not even have tomorrow — so do what you need to do now, and be ever mindful of your priorities.

I suspect by now you know where I am going with this. I seem to be regressing time and again to the first degree, being industrious, giving freely of my time and energy to try to benefit all those around me, both at work and at home. But I seem to lose track of the time, to forget (or ignore) the need all living things have to improve themselves, to grow, to realise their potential. And I’m not getting any younger.

So with this posting, I reaffirm my commitment to strike a balance, to work daily on improving myself in some small way, to take the time out from my schedule to THINK about what I am doing and where I am going.

I’m sure I’ll slip again. But that’s OK. I hope it will be longer before the next time I slip back into old habits, and that I’ll pick up on it in a more timely manner when I do so.